When Naturalism becomes, well, a bit too "natural"...

When I read this week's prompt, my first thought was, "Oooo, I can write about the 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast" which allegedly caused a panic that spread across the United States because Orson Welles' oral depiction of a martian attack was just that good. BUT since I wasn’t alive in the ‘30s to experience it, I figured that probably wouldn’t work. So, the better half of my Sunday was spent rummaging through my memory bank for moments that I’ve experienced and could neatly serve as an answer for this week’s prompt. What occasion had I witnessed or experienced that was performed in a way that was “too real” to the point that an intervention of some sort was needed? Rather than one perfect experience, I was reminded of three different occasions/scenarios that may fit well enough.

The first is in reference to a production of Eugéne Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano that a friend of mine was cast in. In case you aren't familiar with the play, Ionesco was inspired to write it as a result of his experience learning English from a primer. As he was reading along in the primer and taking notes, he states, 

“A strange phenomenon took place. I don't know how—the text began imperceptibly to change before my eyes. The very simple, luminously clear statements I had copied so diligently into my notebook, left to themselves, fermented after a while, lost their original identity, expanded and overflowed. The clichés and truisms of the conversation primer, which had once made sense[...] gave way to pseudo-clichés and pseudo-truisms; these disintegrated into wild caricature and parody, and in the end language disintegrated into disjointed fragments of words.” -- E. Ionesco

Yup. Kinda wild. BUT, what you get is a play about two couples (one who lives at the house where the play is set, the other invited for dinner), a maid, and a fireman that fits very well into the theatre of the absurd category. 

But Osi, Naturalism...how in the world is this relevant to Naturalism? Glad you asked. Stay with me. My friend was cast as one of four characters (the two married couples) who, by the end of the play, had worked themselves up into a nonsensical frenzy to the point of screaming “It's not that way, it’s over here!” at each other over and over again. 

Enter the relevance to Naturalism....

What’s SUPPOSED to happen is this: In the midst of their screaming fit, the lights go dark and the couple who originally lived in the house exits the stage. Then when the lights come up, the "invited couple" is seated just as the other couple had been at the top of the show and the play begins again with the "invited couple" speaking the same lines that the other couple had.

What ACTUALLY happened: My friend had lost himself so deeply in the role that when the lights went down and he exited the stage, he continued to run out of the building and into the streets of North Philly (no bueno, especially at night) with a prop knife in his hand (super no bueno, especially at night) screaming, “It's not that way, it’s over here!” and other lines his character says. Needless to say, it wasn't long before he was surrounded by cops and it took the intervention of the director and stage manager to deescalate the situation. Yeah. True story.

Although the play itself doesn't really fit into the naturalistic category (the maid even addresses the audience in a monologue halfway through the play), it was the "encore performance" afterwards by my friend for an audience of pedestrians and police that was almost a bit too naturalistic to sustain life.

This brings me to my second example - a quick reference to the TV Show "What Would You Do?" This is a show that places actors in an everyday setting and allows them to "perform" amidst the unassuming public. The public has no idea that the scenarios are scripted and that their reactions are being filmed. When it gets "too real" the host and cameras come out to clear the air. Here's a clip:

Lastly, I went to see a brilliant production of Langston Hughes' Black Nativity last year. The way Hughes wrote the script leaves a decent amount up to directorial and production choices. In this particular production, the audience was invited onto the stage during Act 1 to "rejoice" with Mary and Joseph over the birth of their baby Jesus. There was lively singing and dancing as the band played the funkiest version of "Joy to the World" you will ever hear. Some audience members who were dancing got caught up and had to be directed back to their seats. This reminded me somewhat of the Underiner article. The audience was invited to participate in an experience which felt very real, but then were asked to become spectators again.